Fethiye Times News – Week Ending 17 March 2018

Our pick of the news from Fethiye and around Turkey over the last week.

News

Ryanair launches first flights to Turkey starting in June

Ryanair launches its first flights to Turkey starting in June, the company announced on Thursday.

The Irish low-cost carrier will start direct flights from Dublin, in Ireland, and Bratislava, in Slovakia, to Dalaman in southwestern Turkey starting June, according to a company statement.

“Ryanair is pleased to announce our entry into the Turkish market, initially with two routes to Dalaman from Dublin and Bratislava commencing in June. Both routes will operate once a week as part of our Summer 2018 schedule.” Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer David O’Brien said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Massive increase in sales of tomatoes grown in coconut shells

Tomato plants growing in bags of coconut shells suspended above the ground. They can grow up to 12 metres tall.

Tomatoes growing in coconut shells in Fethiye and Seydikemer are proving very popular, with 90 percent of production now being exported. The tomatoes are grown over an area of 70 acres that has been used for landless farming since 2009.

The fibrous part of the husk, known as coir, lends itself to the creation of a growing medium that – though it was used by ancient farmers – came to the attention of modern green thumbs in the 1980s. Gardeners turn to this alternative medium for its eco-friendly properties, impressive water retention and reusability.

Gokhan Çakal, general manager of the production company told Anadolu Agency that they have harvested an average of 30-35 tons of tomatoes per acre every year since they started using this agricultural method.

“With this method, we get much higher yield than the yield from plants grown in the soil, 90 percent of which is exported to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, England, Czech Republic Romania, Poland and Georgia, Russia and Ukraine.”

Source: SonDakika

Underground city in Nevşehir to partially open to tourism in July

The largest underground city in the world, which was discovered in the central Anatolian province of Nevşehir in 2014, will partially open to tourists this summer.

Nevşehir Mayor Hasan Ünver said 100,000 square meters of the ancient settlement, which completely covers an area of 396,000 square meters, will open in July this year.

Excavations have been ongoing in the underground city for four years and have uncovered a seven-kilometre-long gallery, a living space, a 12th-century rock-carved church, a sixth-century monastery and mosque-like religious places, which date back to the Seljuk era. They have also found barns where military horses had been housed, four oil houses and hundreds of tobacco pipes, made of meerschaum.

The underground city was discovered by a Turkish Housing Development Administration (TOKİ) urban transformation project. Some 1,500 buildings located in and around the Nevşehir fortress were demolished, and the underground city was discovered when the earthmoving to construct new buildings began.

The area around the underground city in Nevşehir is best known worldwide for its “Fairy Chimney” rock formations in Cappadocia, which is already a World Heritage Site listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Village Muhtar dies in traffic accident

Servet Yılmaz, head of the elected council (Muhtar) of Çukurincir in Seydikemer, was killed in a road traffic accident on Saturday.

The accident happened in the early hours of Saturday morning in the vicinity of Yakabağ, Çukurincir.

Emergency teams were dispatched to the scene where Yılmaz was pronounced dead.

Source: SonDakika

Sport

Fethiyespor

Thank you to Brian Lloyd for the Fethiyespor updates.

Fethiyespor lost their home match against Konya Anadolu Selçukspor on Saturday. The final score was 0-1.

With all matches played last week, Fethiyespor have now dropped into the relegation zone on the league table.

The next league matches are:

Sunday 25th March at home against Niğde Belediyespor. Kick off is at 15:00.

Sunday 1st April away against SBSinşaat Kirklareli Spor. Kick off is at 15:00.

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